


The Laughing Touch

by PierceTheVeils



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien/Human Relationships, Cohabitation, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:48:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24501877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PierceTheVeils/pseuds/PierceTheVeils
Summary: Thrawn learns what tickling is for the first time.
Relationships: Karyn Faro/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33





	The Laughing Touch

On most counts, Thrawn considered sharing his bed with Commodore Faro an improvement over their previous arrangement. Faro no longer had to cut late night strategizing sessions short for non-physiological reasons, her urgings held him accountable for receiving an adequate amount of sleep each night, and sex was always an option, if one reserved for the few nights they both showed interest. While secrecy had once been a concern, they had discovered that so long as no one saw Faro enter Thrawn’s private chambers at an unreasonable hour and the night guard was never made aware of her presence for the duration of their shift, the couple had no reason to arouse anyone’s suspicion.

Thrawn saw only one major flaw in the current design: sharing a morning routine with Faro contradicted his expectations at every turn. Both Thrawn and Faro were able to wake before their shifts without external assistance, but their interests diverged on the matter of how soon before that time was appropriate to leave bed. Thrawn considered the morning a perfect time for routine exercise and reviewing relevant datawork, requiring him to rise over an hour before shift. 

Faro, on the other hand, sought to maximize her time spent asleep. She had condensed her morning routine into the most efficient use of time and energy Thrawn had ever witnessed from her. She did not stir until twenty minutes before her shift began, and five minutes of that time was spent on navigational tricks aboard the ship such that it would appear to most as if she arrived from her quarters to begin the workday. Impressed as Thrawn was with Faro’s ability to neatly don her uniform while chugging caf, he’d never previously imagined her to be a late sleeper. 

He questioned her on the subject once. Her response was a mix of dismissal and mild defensiveness. “I don’t focus well first thing in the morning. My walk is enough to wake me up for the day ahead. I’d rather look into matters after my shifts than before.”

“I see. You function sufficiently with your current schedule. It would seem you know what is best for you,” Thrawn reassured her, not wanting to give the impression of criticism. They never discussed mornings together again.

Perhaps Thrawn would be able to accept this as a matter of personal difference... were it not also for Faro’s fondness of sleeping in his arms. Even if the two had fallen asleep on opposite ends of Thrawn’s bed, it was not uncommon for Thrawn to wake with his second’s head upon his chest and her limbs entwined in his. Drawing inferences from the side of the bed on which the two would wake, it was clear Faro sought closeness with Thrawn while asleep and not the other way around. But as pleasant and comfortable as Thrawn found the unconscious affection to be, it meant he roused Faro forty minutes before she desired most every morning. 

Faro did not appreciate the disruption. Often she grabbed at his body while partially asleep, struggling to hold onto her source of warmth. Thrawn would slip out of her hold as stealthily as he could, containing his amusement as he did so. Once he had freed himself from her hold, Faro would normally roll into the still-warm spot where Thrawn had slept and wrap her arms around herself instead. She would emit a few low groans Thrawn dared not repeat to her and return to sleep’s embrace until the time came for her to wake. 

Most of the time, that is. This morning presented a slightly different scenario.

Thrawn had already slipped out of Faro’s initial hold, but found her arms wrapped around his waist once again as he sat on the edge of the bed. Faro’s legs curled up around his left thigh, her torso pressed onto his back. He paused, listening to her sigh as she settled into position. Seemingly peaceful sleep belied her ploy to trap Thrawn in a cage of comfort. 

More than once he had considered lingering in her grip, but Thrawn knew if he indulged even once that it would be difficult to refrain in the future. So Thrawn unclasped Faro’s hands, then picked them up by the wrist to drop on either side of his person. Just as he dropped one wrist on the pillow, the other arm folded back up onto his lap. This time, Thrawn twisted around to face Faro, gently rolling her onto her back so the offending arm would land far away from him. His maneuver led him to lightly place a hand between Faro’s left arm and breast, eliciting a rather strange noise from her as he pulled away.

Laughter.

Thrawn twitched when he heard it. He stood while he had the opportunity, then turned to examine Faro’s face. On it were the remains of a smile, seconds after the laughter had stopped.

What was this strange phenomenon? Was Faro more awake than she pretended to be in their daily morning struggles? Had she been toying with him all this time? 

No, Thrawn didn’t suspect that was true. Once recently, Faro had awoken from a dream hours before either of them had intended to stir. She was surprised to find herself grasping onto Thrawn and grew only more confused when Thrawn described how often he woke to this exact thing. At the time, she had been embarrassed and pulled away from him for the remainder of the night. 

More likely this was one more thing Faro did in her sleep without knowing. As for why she would laugh about it… humans were mysterious creatures. Thrawn could not be expected to understand all their ways no matter how long he lived among them. 

Hm… that answer was unsatisfactory, and Thrawn knew it. Continuing to study her, Thrawn once again placed his hand in the space between Faro’s arm and torso, causing her arm to constrict on his fingers. This time, the laughter caught in her throat, and her eyes flitted open to study him.

“Stop it.” Her tone was gruff, but the hints of a smile still played at her lips. The combination confused Thrawn.

“I do not understand what I am doing. Why do you laugh when I touch you?”

“Because you tickled me.” Faro raised her arm so Thrawn could withdraw his hand. She blinked a few times before her eyes could focus on him. 

“Tickled you?”

“Yes. I am ticklish, unfortunately.”

“I do not understand.”

“You don’t… what?” Faro’s earlier assessment had been correct. She did not process information well in her first minutes awake. “You know what tickling is, right?” She repeated the term in Sy Bisti in hopes it would clarify matters.

Thrawn shook his head. “I am not familiar with the term. What does it entail?”

“It’s… um, when someone you know well -it has to be someone you know, I think- touches you in a sensitive spot. Not hard enough to be painful, but enough to be felt. And the human nerves… it’s the pain nerve that sends the signal, but the brain doesn’t interpret the signal as pain. It’s like an itching sensation, but stronger. And it causes the receiving human to laugh whether they like it or not.” Faro rubbed her eye. “Psychologists think it’s a bonding experience because while humans can’t tickle themselves, tickles from a stranger are perceived as an attack.”

Thrawn waited to ensure she was finished, then processed the information. “Humans bond by feigning attacks on one other’s weak points?”

“Kind of. If you know the person tickling you well enough, you understand, even unconsciously, that they aren’t hurting you. Not sure why humans laugh instead, but we do. It doesn’t mean I find tickling pleasant though, so please don’t tickle me.”

“I see. I will refrain from… tickling you in the future.” Thrawn felt silly using the word. He lingered in the discomfort of the word, using it to distract himself from the fact Faro trusted him to such an instinctual degree. “Forgive me for waking you before your normal time. It was not intentional.”

“Wait.” Faro motioned for him before he could walk away. “Does this mean Chiss aren’t ticklish?”

“No Chiss I am aware of has a similar response to being touched in a vulnerable place. No matter their relationship to the other party, unexpected touching of weak spots is most likely to be interpreted as aggression.” Thrawn made sure he had eye contact before continuing. “If you were to try, I know myself enough to say I would respond defensively.”

“Mm. No fair.” Faro rolled back over onto her side, this time facing away from Thrawn. “No exploiting my weakness.”   


“I have no plans of it.” That would certainly be an odd way to win a sparring situation. On the remote possibility Faro ever trapped Thrawn in a hold, he doubted tickling her would be the first strategy to cross his mind in escaping it. Her description didn’t connect tickling to any sort of sexual activity either, so Thrawn doubted a situation where tickling was beneficial would ever arise in their relationship. 

Unbidden, Thrawn stood still at the edge of the bed. He waited for Faro’s breath to slow, her stirring to cease. She didn’t take long to fall back asleep. She never did.

Thrawn smiled, content in the knowledge no one but him would ever see this side of his fearsome commodore. And so he went about his morning routine, the memory of her smile replaying in his mind. That smile was for him, brought about by his laughing touch.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy June, everyone! Well, not really. The world sucks right now. Hence why I'm back to writing fluff as a distraction from my current reality. I have several ideas for Thraro, but this is the sweetest one. I got it from Coffeeberry. She inspires me quite a bit, if I'm honest.
> 
> Anyway, hope you like this. I just needed a break from literally everything else.


End file.
